On September 19th 2000, I had the privlidge of seeing Ani in concert at the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center. She was amazing!

It was around 6:45pm when we drove out to Tampa. This was also going to be the very first concert I've ever been to! I couldn't believe I was really going to see Ani! By the time we were driving over the bridge to Tampa, it was raining so hard that we couldn't see the cars in front of us. we made a wrong turn and ended up in St. Petersburg. After over an hour and a half driving, we managed to turn around and go back over the bay. I was absolutely psyched when we finally arrived! Luckily, we'd only missed the introduction with Kurt Swinghammer Our seats were front row in a balcony right over the stage! It was so cool! Right as we sat down, the lights dimmed and from backstage out leaped a small, energetic woman. Ani!!! "Hi everybody! Nice storm, huh?" She laughed. "Ya know, I usually never came to Florida very often, it used to be like, every 10 or 15 years on vacation or something." Everyone cheered. "But I'm glad to be here tonight!"

A few of the songs she played were Untouchable Face, Shameless, Carry You Around, Tiptoe, The Diner, Loom, Two Little Girls, Shy, Cradle And All, and very funky, jazzy versions of Fuel, Gravel and Pulse! During "Fuel", a few of the fans near the stage held up lighters when she sang the "fire just waiting for fuel" part. I forget which song it was when Ani and Julie Wolf sang a duet, but that had to be one of my favourite parts of the concert, apart from when everybody was singing "Gravel". I remember a few times during the performance when I just started crying- it was so much more intense and amazing watching her there less than 40 feet away from me telling her stories! At the end of the show, a few fans threw flowers at her feet. "We love you, Ani!" It was undoubtedly the best thing that I did all year. When the concert ended, I could only explain the feeling as an "emotional orgasmic experience"! It was just unbelievable to be there with so many other wonderful fans, all in the same room as Ani DiFranco! I'm glad my first concert experience was with her!

Setlist Information

1.The Diner | 2.Two Little Girls | 3.Untouchable Face | 4.Wish I May | 5.Providence | 6.Shy | 7.Marrow | 8.Loom | 9.Pulse | 10.Fuel | 11.So What | 12.Gravel | 13.Carry You Around | 14.Overlap | 15.Swing | 16.Cradle And All | 17.Tiptoe | 18.band introductions | 19.Shameless | 20.Jukebox